


The Interview

by LateStarter58



Series: Dr Lawson's Casebook: the Tom & Ellie stories [5]
Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 05:02:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17016255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LateStarter58/pseuds/LateStarter58
Summary: Ellie is returning from a work conference with news, Tom is dealing with an irritating journalist...





	The Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Until I wrote this one shot I hadn’t returned to Tom and Ellie – the second fan fic pairing I ever wrote about - since she was six months pregnant, and I was curious to see how they were getting on. My other motivation was that I wanted to write her happy and laughing, not a puddle of tears which she was for most of the time in her earlier appearances, The Mistakes of a Night, The Most Beautiful Lie, An Ever Fixéd Mark and I’ll Take Her Laughter and Her Tears, all of which can be found here. I am very fond of Ellie. Her childhood, upbringing and early experiences are quite close to mine, although I was lucky enough not to fall for the right man at the wrong time, like she did. The action here takes place about three years after we last visited them.

‘So tell me, Tom: how did you and Ellie meet?’

_Well, THERE’S a question…_

‘We were contemporaries at Cambridge, that’s when we _first_ met. We were both in the Amateur Dramatic Club for a while.’

_Not for long in Ellie’s case. Just long enough for me to be a complete arsehole and break her heart._

Tom shifted a little in his seat, pausing in his thoughts when he heard their daughter’s voice from the kitchen, followed by the soothing tones of her nanny. The woman in the seat opposite him frowned.

‘But you only became a couple a few years ago, am I right?’

_Tom felt that familiar surge of self-loathing. Unwittingly, he had driven Ellie into years – fourteen long, painful years – of misery by one thoughtless act. She had forgiven him, but he had been less kind to himself._

‘Yes, that’s right. We lost touch. We met again about five years ago, on a film. Ellie was a scientific advisor.’ He was beginning to regret suggesting they stay at this end of the room, in the cosy area with comfy sofas and books filling the wall beside them. It had obviously encouraged Stephanie to think she could pry. He wished the bloody woman went get onto the meat of the thing.

_Isn’t this piece supposed to be about couples like Ellie and me, people with demanding careers who still manage to balance family and relationship and work? No need to rake over the coals of my past sins._

He glanced at his watch.

‘Oh I see.’ Stephanie smirked. She’d heard the rumours. About how the two of them had been a thing at Uni but he’d cheated on her or something. About how – _people said_ \- Ellie was furious when he was cast in the lead of ‘her’ film because she never wanted to see him again. But he had wooed her, got her back. No wonder: he is _gorgeous._

‘So, tell me Tom, what’s a typical week like for your family?’

……………….

 

Up ahead, Ellie could see cars slowing down and the distant flashing of the illuminated sign over the motorway. There was no way to avoid the hold-up. She knew she should have taken that alternative route back, but it was too late now. It was frustrating; on a good day she was less than twenty minutes from home at this stage, but that was a distant dream if the plug at the bottom of the M1 was as bad as it looked. She cranked up the air-con.

The conference had been worth it, though. She had met with microbiologist colleagues from across Europe and attended some fascinating seminars and presentations. She was finalising plans for a new research project and looking to make contacts to help find funding – ever the problem. She and her partners were happy that progress had been made in that direction over the past few days. But something else had happened while she was in Nottingham: something that was going to throw a bit of a spanner in the works.

She planned to tell Tom as soon as she arrived home - as long as that journalist had left. The woman from the Guardian magazine was coming to meet Ellie at her UCL office tomorrow, but he had agreed to allow her to come to do his part at the house today, with a photographer. If they were still around, at least they could get the joint photos done …

Ellie joined the back of the queue and began inching her way towards the A41.

………………

‘We don’t really have ‘typical’ weeks, Stephanie! My work varies so much, and Ellie’s is hardly any better.’

‘Fair enough. So then, tell me about _this_ week. How are you managing, sharing things?’

‘This is unusual for us, actually, because for once it is Ellie who is away and me here holding the fort as it were. Agnes goes to nursery three mornings a week. We don’t always _need_ to send her, but it means she gets to spend time with other adults and children. She seems to like it, so we keep it up unless we are all away. We have a nanny, Patricia - who is _amazing,_ by the way. We rely on her so much given that our hours are so irregular - but because I have very little on just at the moment she has only come in today to help me because you are here. Ellie is on her way home right this minute, actually, after four days at a conference. Don’t ask me what they have been talking about: I have no clue! But she seems to have had a great time.’

‘So you’re a hands-on Dad, then, when you can be?’

‘Too right! Who wouldn’t be?’ He sighed, remembering his daughter’s early months. ‘I had to go away for weeks at a time when she was tiny, and it was terrible. I missed so much, but I had contracts to fulfil. I have changed my way of working a bit now. I still have to go abroad, but I try to minimise it. They change so quickly when they are small: even in a few hours, sometimes.’

‘So when Ellie gets home, will she take over?’

He snorted. Honestly, he expected better of a Guardian journalist. ‘Not really. She’s due in at her office tomorrow as usual, so it will be Daddy Daycare again.’ He grinned. He adored it: feeding her, dressing her; playing with her for as long as she wanted; jogging behind the pushchair as they went through the park. The admiring glances he got from the mums and nannies he passed didn’t hurt, either.

A squeal of laughter erupted from the kitchen, followed by the sound of a bowl hitting the tiled floor. Tom’s head shook sadly: Agnes’ latest trick was throwing her dinner away. He heard Patricia chiding her gently then adopting a harsher tone with the dog, who had obviously tried to capitalise on the situation.

‘No, Paddy! Get away!’

‘And what about time together, you and your wife; just the two of you. Do have much of that?’

_Nowhere near as much as I would like, no…_

‘I don’t think we are any different to other working parents in that respect. Not enough, but we manage. Agnes won’t be a baby for ever and we want to make the most of it.’

He smiled. Fatherhood was more than he had hoped, better than he had dreamed. Despite the trouble her sleeping habits had caused Ellie _in utero,_ since being bornAgnes had been a model baby, sleeping through the night after six months and generally being a delight. She had her mother’s even temper and her father’s curls. Everyone who saw her fell in love and Tom had never known a feeling like it: fear, happiness, exhilaration and joy all battling in his heart at once.

‘So parenthood suits you Tom, does it?’

…………………………..

 

Finally turning into the outer courtyard of their property, Ellie sat behind the wheel impatiently waiting for the automatic gate to swing open enough for her to drive in. Now she was almost there she was desperate to see them both: _her family_. Her heart still missed a beat when she thought or said that. She had gone so long without one: nearly twenty years passed between her mother’s death and when she married Tom, and it still felt strange. She found herself close to tears if someone asked after them, as many of her old friends had these past few days. But she was so happy, so deliriously happy that she could swallow the lump in her throat and reach for her phone to show off their beautiful daughter, who was the very image of her beautiful husband.

‘Come on, come on…’ she muttered as the inner gate took an intolerable amount of time to open, but finally she could swing her car into its place and get out. She had butterflies: she always did when she knew she would be seeing Tom. Just the thought of him made her heart beat faster, and she was throbbing with excitement at seeing Agnes too. She hoped that the journalist had left, but thought she probably had not as there had been an unfamiliar car outside in the visitor bay.

As she opened the door she called out.

‘I’m home!’

She was answered with a loud ‘Mama!’ from the nearby kitchen and the muffled sound of Tom’s voice from further off. She was torn: who to go to first? Tom saved her from her dilemma by striding into the lobby and embracing her tightly. His lips found hers immediately and they shared a sweet kiss.

‘I missed you, darling. Good journey?’

‘OK until the last bit – as usual. All well here? Our ‘guest’ still around?’

He grimaced. ‘Yes, I think she has a few more questions. The photographer is still here too, so maybe we can…?’

Ellie nodded, already on her way to the kitchen. ‘Just let me see Agnes and spruce myself up a bit. I must look a wreck.’

He shook his head. She looked stunning; she always took his breath away. Her blonde hair shimmered down her back as she walked away from him. Her tall frame was still slender and she had a natural grace that turned him on every time. She had been unfairly, painfully beautiful even in labour. She was the most beautiful woman he knew.

Agnes almost jumped out of her high chair to get to her mother. Ellie leaned down and allowed the toddler to grab her, blowing a raspberry on her sweet little neck.

‘Finish your food darling. I’ve just got to go and freshen up, then we can have a big squeezy cuddle and maybe a play in the garden?

Ellie walked down the hall to the sound of Agnes’ ‘Yayayayayayayaymamamamama’shome!’

……………….

Five minutes and a quick tooth-brush later, Ellie walked back to the living room, squaring her shoulders. She hated this stuff; this was Tom’s world. Her place was among microscopes and cultures and lab coats and spreadsheets and reports, not performing for journalists or being photographed. Tom was a natural; he was charming all the time, on duty or off. He didn’t have to put on an act, unless he was feeling unwell or upset. Ellie, on the other hand, was always uncomfortable when she had to ‘be _Mrs Hiddleston_ ’ as she thought of it. She tried very hard for Tom’s sake to be natural, and there had been times when she almost forgot herself and enjoyed it. But those were rare.

She walked stiffly towards where Tom and the woman were lounging on different sofas at one end of the room. His body language was relaxed but he was turned slightly away from the journalist and he stood as soon as he heard Ellie’s step on the wood flooring.

‘Darling! Let me introduce Stephanie Burrows from the Guardian.’ The women shook hands.

‘Very pleased to meet you, Professor Lawson. Thank you so much for agreeing to this.’

‘Well, that’s OK.’ She liked the woman instinctively, but then she was at home and tired so her guard was down. ‘I’d still prefer if we stick to the plan and did our interview tomorrow. It’s been a long day.’

‘Of course, no problem. And I know you must be anxious to spend some time alone with your family. If we could just do the photos of the two of you..?’

Ellie nodded and with only a hint of reluctance, allowed herself to be posed with her husband by an enthusiastic man with an Italian accent who flirted unashamedly with both of them. They ended up in the garden, perched uncomfortably on the play equipment. Ellie was certain the plastic slide would give way under her weight, but it didn’t and Tom was very happy with the results, which was all she cared about, really. The sun had dropped behind the buildings and their garden walls by the time they said goodbye to the press and were able to shut the door on the world at last.

It was another two hours before the couple were alone together. Ellie was exhausted; she never slept well without Tom, even now, and several intense days of talking, listening and networking were catching up with her. She could just hear Tom’s voice reading _Thomas the Tank Engine,_ doing all the voices and occasionally breaking character to answer one of the slightly surreal questions that Agnes had recently begun to ask. She was a precocious child, and her inquiring mind was a mixed blessing. She tried to use words that were sometimes hard to decipher in her baby voice, and her meaning wasn’t always easy to grasp. The soft rumble of her husband’s voice was soothing and Ellie’s eyelids were drooping…

She woke from her doze when she felt Tom slide onto the sofa beside her. He kissed her temple softly and wrapped his long arm around her shoulder.

‘You OK, my darling nerd? Tired after all that brainy science stuff?’

Ellie swatted at his arm half-heartedly. ‘A bit. So, what did she want to know this time? Why Thomas is a boy? Why Gordon is green?’

‘I’m not quite sure, actually. Something about why they needed rails, I think. My explanation seemed to satisfy her.’ He sighed and rubbed his forehead. ‘How long is it till she goes to university?’

Ellie shoved him playfully and laughed. ‘She does ask a _lot_ of questions, doesn’t she? Teach her to read, then she can go to books and the internet instead.’

Tom’s face fell. ‘ _The internet?_ No way. She’s not going anywhere near that for a VERY long time.’

Ellie smirked. She looked at his face, serious and handsome in the dim light. He was going to be so happy when she told him her news, but she wanted to show him how much she had missed him first. Her head pressed into his shoulder a little.

‘So, rich boy… wanna mess around?’

……………….

‘So you and Tom met first at Cambridge?’

_He said you’d mentioned that. It still burns him._

‘That’s right. Fortunately, life was good enough to give us a second chance.’

Stephanie smiled. ‘And now you are the envy of millions! Can I ask: do you get much hate-mail?’

Ellie sighed and shrugged. ‘There is still a trickle. I received quite a bit at first, once we went public, but now it seems to be limited to a few people who are clearly not well. I pass it on to the police if it looks too threatening.’  Happily, there had never been a repeat of the assault Ellie suffered in the early days of their relationship. She was more aware and cautious now and Tom was still highly protective of them both.

‘That must be frightening though, now you have Agnes.’

‘I don’t really think there is any real risk, but yes, like any parent, my worst nightmares involve harm to her. But the bad stuff really is very minor now, just a few things a month that are unpleasant. Mainly what I get is positive these days. On the whole, you know, people are pretty nice.’

She smiled, thinking of the flood of gifts they received when Agnes was born, from fans from all over the world. Many of the little toys, especially the hand-made ones, decorated the shelves in the nursery or shared the baby’s bed. What they had no room for, and most of the clothes, had been passed on to a children’s charity.

‘So, tell me, how do you balance your two careers, given that they are both so demanding while at the same time so different? Have you had to compromise much?’

‘Not really, actually. No more than anyone else in my sort of job who has a child. I do fewer long days, I spend less time in the lab and my office, it’s true, but I did that once I was with Tom anyway. I know we are lucky, but I don’t think my work has suffered at all. In the bad old days I was too focused on work and had very little life outside it, which was not good for me or my career.’ She felt the chill of her old, empty existence; when she was in it, it seemed to work, but looking back she could see how harmful that way of living was.

‘But Tom has to be away from home a lot, surely, and you can’t just follow him with Agnes, can you, because of your work at the University?’

‘No, but we do join him when we can, and as I’m sure he told you, he has changed his priorities a bit. If a plum role came up that meant he had to be away for months, we would discuss it, but in the last couple of years he has been able to be fairly close by or only out of the country for short periods.’ She grimaced, remembering the desperation he showed in the first few months of Agnes’ life when he was committed to working in the US and even further away. ‘And he takes more time off nowadays. Like these last few weeks, which have been fantastic for both of them. She’s a real _Daddy’s Girl_.’

‘And what about the two of you? How do you cope with being apart so much, even if it is for shorter stretches now?’

_Oh, we make up for it when we aren’t… Like last night._

Ellie’s eyes closed unconsciously as she recalled the feel of their mouths joining, of his hands on her and the sounds he made as she ground against his lap.

_We have to be quieter than we used to, but that’s not a problem – most of the time._

She remembered where she was and snapped out of it. ‘I can’t pretend I like it, but we keep in touch as much as is practical, and we both make sure that if something is bothering us we talk about it. It’s too tempting to bury things so as to make the most of the time together, but that’s not healthy. And we can both talk for England, so we usually air any worries. Communication: that’s the key.’

_We communicate alright. His lips on my neck, my hands pulling his hair, his tongue on my sex…_

‘That sounds very wise. Tom told me yesterday that his troubles were few because he had married a very beautiful and very clever person.’

Ellie blushed.  He was always saying things like that, to her and to anyone who would listen. She thought he would stop after a while, but he showed no sign of it yet. She wished he wouldn’t do it, but she had given up asking him not to: it just bubbled out of him, she had seen it happen. And of course, when someone asked _her_ about _him_ , she would smile and tell them that in every way he was the most beautiful person she knew, so she really couldn’t complain too much.

………………

_It had only been four days, but they were desperate for one another, as they always were after the shortest separation: hands roamed and lips and tongues explored as skin was revealed. The sofa was soft and cosy and the baby monitor was playing the sweet sounds of Agnes breathing steadily in her sleep. That lovely music was mixed with the birds singing in the gathering dusk of the garden. Ellie felt Tom growing hard below her as she writhed on his lap, their kisses becoming more heated as time passed. She had to tell him her news, but not yet, not yet…_

_He had changed into sweats and it was easy to slide them down. They both moaned as they were joined once more. Now she was really home: her man inside her, their love shared as their bodies and souls mingled. They kept still for a while, just feeling each other. She bathed in the glory of him: his beautiful face, his soft curls just there on the top of head, the strength of his arms and his supple torso against her; the special fragrance of Tom: cologne, soap, sweat and desire. His eyes were on her, exploring her face, the pupils blown with lust._

_Ellie marvelled at how little had changed over the four years or so they had been together. They had married; spent as much time as possible together; had a baby: but there had been no diminishment in their want for one another. She had read about how things would change, how he might not feel the same after he witnessed her body change in pregnancy and giving birth, but as far as she could tell, none of that had happened. She felt the same longing for him as she ever had, and even in the depths of exhaustion like tonight, they always had energy left for each other._

_‘Oh Ellie, that is the best feeling.’ Tom closed his eyes and held onto her hips as he thrust upwards. Low grunts punctuated his movements as Ellie felt the coil tightening inside her. It was going to be fast: good, because she wasn’t sure how long her reserves would last._

_‘Fuck me, Tom, please. Harder…’_

_Their mouths crashed together and he speeded up. He wanted to show her again how much he loved her. The stirred-up memory of Cambridge and what he had done needed to be obliterated. He sat up and turned them, letting Ellie fall back against the sofa and lifting her legs onto his shoulders. Now he renewed his onslaught, his hips a blur. She wanted to scream, the contrast felt so good: his body was hard, strong and fast against her soft, enveloping warmth and wetness. His large hands held her ankles as she came, thrashing and biting her lip to stop from crying out and waking the baby. He followed her, gritting his teeth before collapsing onto her chest, his lips lazily wandering over her breasts._

_…………………._

 ‘Just to finish, one more question. Do you have any advice for couples wanting to combine career and family, Ellie?’

She thought for a moment. When she was single she had read some of these types of article and they could be infuriating.

‘I think anyone who wants a family these days has to think about how they will manage financially. I’m not under any illusions – I know we are extremely fortunate. I don’t need to work for monetary reasons. I chose to continue after Agnes arrived, but that’s at least partly because I think that my career is so much a part of me that it is an imperative. And Tom’s work is flexible enough, and importantly, _lucrative_ enough that we can afford to make the arrangements we need to in order to manage our lives to our satisfaction.’

She looked around her office. There were certificates and a couple of awards which had been there for years, but unlike the old days, it was littered with photographs: Ellie and Tom on their wedding day; Agnes, newly-born and dozing in her father’s arms; the three of them in Diana’s garden in Suffolk; Tom pinning his CBE on Agnes in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace. She was the luckiest person in the world and she knew it. Ellie had known the worst of life. Bereavement and loneliness had marked her teens and twenties, and now her joy was even greater.

……………….

_‘Tom? You still awake?’_

_He was still resting against her, their bodies bathed in drying sweat. Neither had the energy nor the inclination to move from the sofa._

_‘Mmmm…’_

_‘I’ve got something to tell you.’_

_‘Yeah…?’ His voice was low and sleepy. Ellie felt a giggle bubbling up._

_‘How do you feel about repainting the back bedroom?’_

_‘What? Whatever for…?’ He sat up suddenly, looking at her with an intense stare that would have made her feel naked – if she had any clothes on, that is._

_She nodded. ‘Yes.’_

_Her calm voice belied her excitement. They had been trying for a while, and Ellie had been worried because her mother had an early menopause, but it seemed they had been successful at last._

_‘A little brother or sister for Aggie. I took a test this morning.’_

_Tom didn’t speak, just stood up, pulling his wife into his arms. They stayed like that, holding each other, skin-to-skin, Tom sobbing into Ellie’s hair._

_……………………….._

**‘** Yes, I know how lucky I am. I never take it for granted. Not for a moment.’


End file.
